The Fight, The Fights and The Fight Videos

Hey guys, sorry its been a while. School has been getting hectic again. I guess i'll talk about my thoughts on last weekends Strikeforce Card.

Say what you want, but that card was a mess in my mind. I won't go into as much detail but for my results and analysis read my bleacher article here.

Lashley vs. Sims was a joke. I don't care if hes got personality he shouldn't be on ppv. My mailman has personality that doesn't mean people want to pay to see him.

The Walker fight I would have found more intriguing had it not been on ppv. If you want to show you are on the UFC's level you need to keep this trash off of your show. I admire Walker for being an amazing athlete and I commend him for donating his purse ($600 Strikeforce? You cheap bastards!) but this shouldn't have been on ppv. Walker showed a great ability to control his opponent but was clearly gun shy. This fight was sloppy and hard to watch. The fact that Greg Nagy ever made it to ppv is a crime against the sport.

Now onto the good. Manhoef vs. Lawler lived up to the hype. Everyone (including myself, I can admit when im wrong) thought that Lawler had to take the fight to the ground if he wanted to win it, and through about three minutes it looked as though I was right. Manhoef controlled the action, tore apart Lawler's legs and landed at will. However, as we're found out so many times, it only take one shot to finish and Lawler did that.

Now the problem becomes what do you do with these guys next. Lawler cannot move directly into another title fight, but with all the middleweight talent signed as of late they should be able to keep him busy. Maybe someone like a Matt Lindland would be a good choice. However, if you want to throw him right into a #1 contenders shot thats an option as well. Perhaps a fight against Jacare? I would love to see that fight. The true grappler vs. striker battle if there ever was one.

Cyborg vs. Coenen was my choice for fight of the night. Coenen may have been demolished for most of the fight, but she showed heart and did have her straight right landing rather well, but Cyborgs power was just overwhelming. Cyborg showed why she is at the top of the game yet again as she sliced through Coenen like butter.

The scary part is that Coenen was the general consensus #2 in the world. So....what now? Strikeforce claims Erin Toughhill is up next and that may be the last interesting fight there is for Cyborg available. Coenen is reality should be fighting at 135 as should have most of Cyborg's opponents to date (Baezler, Akano, hell...even Carano) but Toughhill is a legitimate 145lb. fighter. Also, she holds a victory of her own over Coenen so mentally that should help. Do I think she has a chance in hell? Absolutely not. I think perhaps we should change Cyborg's nickname to "Axe Murderer 2.0"

Diaz again looked impressive against Zaromskis. It was the reach and awkward boxing style which proved to be the death blow to Zaromskis despite landing a nice blow to Diaz early. Other than the blow which knocked Diaz down, Zaromskis was picked apart fairly well by Diaz. The question came up on whether or not Diaz is a top 5 welterweight and after that performance I find it hard to deny him that spot. I would put Alves, Fitch, and GSP ahead of him, and hes certainly in the mix with Kos, Swick, Hardy, Daley etc.

Now onto my UFC 109 predictions.

Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

I'm gonna go with Serra in this one because of the logic of mma math (which never works). What I mean by that is that Hughes tapped Trigg twice, and Serra has better submissions than Hughes therefore Serra should be able to tap Trigg. Whether or not we'll see that happen im not sure. Will Serra be able to get the fight to the ground, and if not, who is better on the feet? Logic tells us that by knocking GSP out that Serra is better, but Trigg is no slouch either. This fight may be decided on the feet, but I don't think so. I think Serra will find a way to get it down and submit Trigg.

Matt Serra via 3rd round submission

Dan Miller vs. Damian Maia

The saying "you're only as good as youre last fight" has never rung more true than in the case of Damian Maia. Before the infamous 21 second knockout by Nate Marquardt, people were crowning Maia as the man to beat Anderson. You can deny it now, but it's true. Now, hes seen as just another fighter in the middleweight division. My pick for the fight is Damian Maia and again im gonna go out on a limb and use the mma math. Damian Maia submitted Chael Sonnen is about three minutes and Sonnen's wrestling is better than Millers AND Sonnen beat Miller rather soundly last year. Now we have to of course take into account that Millers standup is better than Maia's. Miller is a warrior and I think he will fight diligently in this one, but in the end, Maia will find a way. He always does...except for the Marquardt fight.

Damian Maia via. 1st round submission

Paulo Thiago vs. Mike Swick

There may not be a more evenly matched fight on the card and I really have been going back and forth on who to pick. On one hand, Paulo Thiago is 1-1 against AKA members and to be honest has been getting thrown right into the deep end against the welterweights best talent. On the other hand, he knocked out Kos and looked impressive against Volkhann in the fall. Swick was on the verge of finally getting his title shot before Dan Hardy beat him soundly at UFC 105 and now has to re-build. This might sound crazy, but I like Thiago in the fight. I think he feels like hes got something to prove and seems to be a real battler. I think the hidden factor in this fight might be Swick's ever improving wrestling. Can he keep the fight off the mat? We'll see

Paulo Thiago via. Decision

Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen

Interesting fight that has potential to be dreadfully boring. Sonnen's style isn't overly appealing to fans. He grinds out decisions using short strikes and advanced position. Marquardt is a better fighter, just ask Sonnen he'll tell you. His wrestling style might work against most, but it won't work against Marquardt, one of the most well rounded fighters in the game. I suspect that Sonnen will be able to make the fight competitive, but the amount of options that Marquardt has to win this fight just makes me unable to pick against him.

Nate Marquardt via. Decision

Mark Coleman vs. Randy Couture

Ugh, this whole time I wasn't looking forward to this fight, but as it came closer I just can't help myself. I love a fight, plain and simple. So now the oldest fight in history will finally take place. Coleman says he want's is bad, and I believe him. He knows this is his last hurrah and if he doesn't make the most of it, its all downhill from here. It's certainly not a "win or your gone" scenario, but a dismal performance here will guarantee he never headlines a ppv again. Couture may also be riding into his last sunset as a fighter. He put together a decent performance against Brandon Vera (which many still think Vera won) and now could be potentially just a single fight away from a title shot yet again. As much as i'd like to think this fight will be competitive, I just don't see it. Where is Coleman better than Couture? No where. Couture has continued to improve and I don't see the same evolution from Coleman. Couture wins this fight. My guess is that it will be a decision not because Coleman will make it competitive, rather just because thats how every Couture fight goes down.

Randy Couture via. Decision

Why BJ Penn defeated Kenny Florian

1. Mental Breakdown/Momentum Dump

Kenny Florian did a lot of talking before this fight took place. I’m sure by now you have all heard the “B.J. Penn is the master; I’m going to kill the master” spiel that Florian said after his fight with Joe Stevenson last fall.

Although that comment sure got Penn’s attention, it was another comment that got mine. During the countdown show, Florian said he was going to finish Penn in the first round. A comment like this I'm sure put a lot of pressure on Florian and between this and his warrior mindset, the pressure may have been too much.

Florian came out expecting to implement his game plan and tire Penn out, however it quickly became apparent that this was not going to happen. After Penn showed an ability to stop the takedown and strike in the clinch, Florian was left with little else to offer and this was quite a degrading thing to realize part way through a fight.

By the fourth round, the discouragement was clearly evident in Florian’s face. Physically he was not tired, but mentally Florian had nothing left, and this is why Penn took him down and submitted him.

 

2. Poor Gameplan/You’re Not GSP

No disrespect to Mark Delagrotte or anyone else in Florian’s camp, but his game plan going into this fight was poor. From the outset it was clear that Florian was not looking to strike with Penn and wanted to wear him out along the cage and eventually take him down.

This is the same game plan that Florian’s good friend GSP implemented in January against Penn victoriously, however simply put, Kenny Florian is not Georges St. Pierre.

St. Pierre is one of the best wrestlers in mixed martial arts. On top of this, he is a large welterweight. These are two things that Kenny Florian does not have. Florian has solid Jiu-Jitsu and amazing Muay-Thai, but his wrestling has proven to be rather weak.

He had absolutely no luck in taking Penn down and quite honestly it barely looked as though he was trying. He never got his hips low and tried to sweep Penn’s legs. He planned on wearing Penn out, but Penn has proven over his last few fights that his cardio is less of a factor than it once was.

 

3. B.J. Penn Is Just Plain More Skilled/Big Fight Experience

Florian simply could not do anything to hurt Penn throughout the fight. Penn sat back and wore Florian out mentally through his defensive mindset. All it took from Penn was a defensive game plan and striking out of the clinch to wear Florian out and dominate the fight.

Penn used his big fight experience to stay calm even in compromising positions, pick his shots, wear Florian out, and take him down for the submission. 

Why BJ Penn defeated Kenny Florian

1. Mental Breakdown/Momentum Dump

Kenny Florian did a lot of talking before this fight took place. I’m sure by now you have all heard the “B.J. Penn is the master; I’m going to kill the master” spiel that Florian said after his fight with Joe Stevenson last fall.

Although that comment sure got Penn’s attention, it was another comment that got mine. During the countdown show, Florian said he was going to finish Penn in the first round. A comment like this I'm sure put a lot of pressure on Florian and between this and his warrior mindset, the pressure may have been too much.

Florian came out expecting to implement his game plan and tire Penn out, however it quickly became apparent that this was not going to happen. After Penn showed an ability to stop the takedown and strike in the clinch, Florian was left with little else to offer and this was quite a degrading thing to realize part way through a fight.

By the fourth round, the discouragement was clearly evident in Florian’s face. Physically he was not tired, but mentally Florian had nothing left, and this is why Penn took him down and submitted him.

 

2. Poor Gameplan/You’re Not GSP

No disrespect to Mark Delagrotte or anyone else in Florian’s camp, but his game plan going into this fight was poor. From the outset it was clear that Florian was not looking to strike with Penn and wanted to wear him out along the cage and eventually take him down.

This is the same game plan that Florian’s good friend GSP implemented in January against Penn victoriously, however simply put, Kenny Florian is not Georges St. Pierre.

St. Pierre is one of the best wrestlers in mixed martial arts. On top of this, he is a large welterweight. These are two things that Kenny Florian does not have. Florian has solid Jiu-Jitsu and amazing Muay-Thai, but his wrestling has proven to be rather weak.

He had absolutely no luck in taking Penn down and quite honestly it barely looked as though he was trying. He never got his hips low and tried to sweep Penn’s legs. He planned on wearing Penn out, but Penn has proven over his last few fights that his cardio is less of a factor than it once was.

 

3. B.J. Penn Is Just Plain More Skilled/Big Fight Experience

Florian simply could not do anything to hurt Penn throughout the fight. Penn sat back and wore Florian out mentally through his defensive mindset. All it took from Penn was a defensive game plan and striking out of the clinch to wear Florian out and dominate the fight.

Penn used his big fight experience to stay calm even in compromising positions, pick his shots, wear Florian out, and take him down for the submission. 

Armageddon fallout, updated TNA in Japan

Sorry its been a while, busy with exams and coming home.

DONT FORGET TO VOTE, DOWN THE LEFT SIDE, DO IT!

Armageddon:

So my predictions...only got 3 right, but with all the interference, its hard to predict. 3 title matches had lousy fake finished. MVP walks out, JBL costs Y2J the title, and there are now 3 edge's. Thats ridiculous, at 1 it didn't phase me, at 2 it started to bother me, but at 3 I was down right pissed.

I have a philosophy with the WWE that usually keeps me calm. I just don't even think of it as professional wrestling. I think of it as just another television show. I try not to compare it to TNA (even though its getting harder by the week) and I definitely don't compare it with ROH or any Japanese wrestling. Its not the same thing, it just has similar characters which dress the same. Thats my rant, i'm done with WWE.

TNA:
We'll i'm still confused as to what they want to do with Christian. It looks as though they are going to make him a face. But its hard to be a face when no one likes you and you've got a 4 member alliance against you. I thought they were going to try and start up a coalition vs alliance thing but with everyone hatin' on Christian, I don't see it happening.

For anyone who wants to see someone from inside the business who is also frustrated with the current TNA product go to www.stormwrestling.com and check out his blog on TNA. He puts it into perspective much better than I ever could.

Speaking of TNA here is the updated card for the 1/4 show


1. THIS IS WAR! ~NONSTOP RISING~: Milano Collection AT, Minoru & Prince Devitt vs. Christian Cage, AJ Styles & Petey Williams
2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Wataru Inoue (c) vs. Christopher Daniels
3. Japanese Muscle Monster vs. The American Monster: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Abyss
4. NEW JAPAN vs. The Alliance GROUND ZERO: Takashi Iizuka, Koji Kanemoto, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Masato Tanaka, Tatsuhito Takaiwa , Yutaka Yoshie & Katsushi Takemura 5. GET THE TABLE! GET THE HIGHEST! - Hardcore Match: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano vs. "Team 3D" Brother & Brother Devon
6. ONE NIGHT STAND ~LEGEND vs. VBH~: Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Super Strong Machine, Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA vs. Jado, Gedo, TARU, Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI
7. Generation of Chaos: Hirooki Goto vs. Great Muta
8. IWGP Tag Team Title: Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko (c) vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner
9. Final Resolution~REAL vs. Justice~IWGP 3rd Belt: Kurt Angle (c) vs. Yuji Nagata
10. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Alot of good matches on the card. Anyone who is a fan of old school ECW style Dudleyz should be estactic with the Hardcore match they will have against Yano and Makabe, should be a blood lovers delight!

There will be a special on Spike TV highlighting the matches that involve the Puroresu vs TNA matches. Tune in, give it a good rating and maybe we can see more New Japan talent in TNA and vice versa!

Not much else new in the wrestling world so thats it for now. I'll try to have another one up sometime before or around the weekend, but if I don't, MERRY FREAKING CHRISTMAS. Oh yeah, do me a favor, VOTE!

Raw Thoughts, Armegeddon Preview, Updated NJPW vs TNA card.

As always, don't forget to VOTE!! It takes two seconds and makes me happy so VOTE!!!

Raw Review: That was an amazing Raw. I thought they did an excellent job with bringing in the old faces. I could have went without seeing Big Dick Johnson again but oh well. There were a lot of faces I never thought I would see again such as Skinner, Bastian Booger and the goon. It was nice to see Jim Neidhart again, still looking like a tank.

The Family Portrait segment was weird. I don't know why they are still playing it up as if everyone doesn't know that HHH and Stephanie are married. "Oh, i'll see you at home.....I mean in the back." Like come on, you say you don't want to insult the fans intelligence.

I enjoyed seeing RVD comeback but I really don't see how that segment benefited either. Santino is the future so why have RVD come out and beat him in 45 seconds? Why not have a little bit of competitiveness, like 5 minutes at least? It made Santino look awful, especially after he had that decent match with Jericho (no that match wasn't that bad like everyone seems to think).

The ladder match was also pretty good. Carlito needs to be in matches like that more often.

Nice to see the liontamer again, its been a while.

Armageddon Preview and predictions:
I'm going to go through match by match and give my thoughts on the match and my prediction for a winner. I'm just going to start at the bottom of the list and work up from the wwe Armageddon site. So lets begin!

WWE U.S Title Match: Rey Mysterio vs M.V.P (c)
This match has the capability to steal the show. M.V.P is a great talent and working with someone the caliber of Rey Mysterio is not only going to make this match great, but its going to help M.V.P develop in his career. M.V.P has proven he can put on a great match and is very charismatic, and his style should mesh well with Mysterio's. The match they had a few weeks ago was really good and I think with more time they can have an even better match.
Prediction: M.V.P (possibly with feet on rope or something to that effect)

WWE Womens title: Mickie James vs Beth Phoenix(c)
I personally don't put much thought into the WWE womens wrestling, but these are two of the more talented in the WWE and should put on a good womens match.
Prediction: Beth Phoenix

Finlay vs Great Khali
Not expecting much out of this match. Maybe 3-5 minutes of Finlay getting beat down.
Prediction: Great Khali (either by vise grip or Finlay's little stick thing)

Shawn Micheals vs Mr.Kennedy
This should be a pretty good match. Both men have a lot of talent and a lot of charisma. I'm hoping for a good back and forth match that goes a bit, maybe like 20 minutes even. This is a good match-up for Kennedy that can do nothing but further his move up the ladder.
Prediction: Shawn Micheals

CM Punk/Kane vs Henry/Viscera
Well this should be a stinker. I don't see Punk getting much ring time as they are trying to build this monster mash crap up.
Prediction: Punk/Kane

Triple H vs Jeff Hardy
Hmmmm what is going to happen here. This match should be interesting. Is this Hardy's stepping stone, or HHH's heel turn? I really can't see Hardy Main eventing a PPV just yet.
Prediction: HHH

World Title match: Edge vs Undertaker vs Batista (c)
The three top talents on Smackdown heading into the ring to battle it out. I don't understand why Taker and Tista have been trying to hurt eachother lately when they both want Edge but whatever. I think these three will have another excellent match.
Prediction: new world champion, Edge.

WWE Title match: Jericho vs Orton(c)
Although i'm not a big fan or Randy Orton, I think that this match should be decent. The build-up has been rather poor but as for in ring talent, these two should be able to have a good match.
Prediction: Orton.

NJPW vs TNA
- Another match has been announced for the card. The Great Muta will take on Hirooki Goto in what should be an awesome match. Goto is a young lion in the NJPW ranks and is looking to stake his spot as a top contender for the title. Muta is an old veteran who wants to prove he still has it in him.

Also the Dudleyz have been officially announced to be on the card. The early runners for who they might face is Togi Makabe and Toru Yano. Makabe and Yano are a good team who like the dudleyz specialize in hardcore. A good old school ECW style brawl would make this match great.

We'll thats it for now people, I hope you enjoy! If anyone would like to email me their predictions i'll put them up! thetruthisalie@hotmail.com

Don't think your a puro fan? You know more than you think!

As always, don't forget to vote for match, promotion, and wrestler of the year. It only takes 2 seconds! Please! For those of you who aren't ROH fans, don't let them run away with every category, and if you are an ROH fan, keep voting to ensure your promotions victory!

Okay let's see what we have today.

Impact: Has anyone else never seen a ladder match where the ladder starts in the middle of the ring? This was one of the worst ladder matches i've ever seen. There was no wrestling or anything. It was just everyone trying to climb up and grab the title and someone else knocking them down. Also, wasn't the concept of this match a little stupid? A trios match for the x-division title that it doesn't matter who wins, because the title is still going to belong to Jay Lethal. Why couldn't Cornette just say "Hey, give him his title back or your fired!". The match was pointless.

The 10 man main event I thought was well done, but i'm confused as to where they go from here with the angle/cage storyline. Is Cage going to become a face? If so why did he come out earlier in the show and be an asshole to everyone? I guess we will have to wait and find out....

Smackdown: Not alot happened on Smackdown. That spear on Burke was amazing. I heard he actually had the wind knocked out of him which comes as no surprise. MVP continues to impress with another great segment. It helps that hes out there with the charismatic, passionate Micheal Hayes (and yes, I marked for the moonwalk) but still, a good segment overall.

In NJPW, Nakamura was able to knock off Tobe Makabe last night to guarantee his shot at the IWGP world heavyweight title on the January 4th show.

Also, it looks as though it will be young talented Hirooki Goto to face off against the previously announced Great Muta in his return to NJPW. If Goto is able to make this match last a while and look strong (I don't count on him winning) than that will definitely help his standing in the IWGP title chase.

For those of you who do not watch alot of puro, you may still know some of these faces.

The Great Muta made his name in America in the late 1980's and early 1990's in WCW. He was managed by Gary Hart and had memorable matches with Barry Windham, Ric Flair and Sting, even capturing the NWA television title for a time.

You may remember Hirooki Goto as a member to Team Japan in the World X-Cup for TNA along with Black Tiger, Minoru Tanaka and Jushin Lyger. His most famous match would be the trios cage match he had with Tanaka and Tiger against Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal at Lockdown 2006. It was an excellent back and forth match. If I can find a link to it, i'll be sure to put it up for you guys.

Yuji Nagata competed in WCW during 1997 and 1998 under an enforcer type role for Sunny Onoo. Although it was only a short stay he had memorable matches with Dean Malenko and his WCW rival, Ultimo Dragon.

If Giant Bernard doesn't sound familiar to you, how about A-train? or Albert? Yup, thats right, its the same guy, except for he finally found a razor, so no longer are we forced to stare at the hairiest chest on earth!

So your not as foreign to Japanese wrestling as you thought, good. Now get acquainted with these names because your TNA stars will be competing with them on January 4th, 2008.

Next blog, I will give my thoughts on Monday's raw and rundown the card for Armageddon! Until then,

Kofi Kingston, Mon!

Just a little update today as there isn't much new in the wrestling world.

There is a set of polls on the side. I'd appreciate it if everyone who visits the site could vote!

So a video aired last night that gave us our first glimpse of Kofi Kingston, the newest ECW superstar. I personally had never heard of him but he does look quite intriguing so I dug deeper to see what I could find. Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah is a Jamaican born professional wrestler who made his debut in June 2006 in New England Championship Wrestling. Only 3 months after this he was signed to a WWE developmental contract and headed for Deep South. Between February and July, Kofi split his time in Deep South, OVW and doing dark matches on both Raw and Smackdown. In July he moved to FCW and has been there ever since, until last night that is.

In the video he stated how much he loved his home country of Jamaica and how it was a paradise and then something about trouble in Paradise. It reminded me a lot of the Carlito skits before he debuted. It will be interesting to see how he does.

From the promo, it looks as though he will be come in a babyface which is exactly what ECW needs right now. With his look a few good wins and he could be up with the top ECW talent. It is hard to judge though how important he could be to the brand without actually seeing what he has in the ring. I guess we will all just have to stay tuned!

To see the video that aired last night: www.wwe.com/shows/ecw

Also for pictures and more info: http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/k/kofi-nahaje-kingston.html

His Bio from FCW

"KOFI KINGSTON: Growing up in the streets of Kingston, Jamaica with violence and poverty, Kofi learned how to fight at a young age. Kofi built himself up into an impressive 6’ 225 lb. playing every sport he could on the island. Even though a harsh upbringing forced him to learn a bare knuckle style of fighting in the streets, Kofi Kingston comes to FCW with the hopes and dreams of being successful for his family back on the island. Maintaining a positive attitude is a priority with Kofi as he has been heard reciting a popular Jamaican saying, “Hardships are there but the land is green and the sun shineth.” " - http://www.fcwwrestling.com/talents/kofi_kingston.htm

Okay lets see what else there is:
In the poll where it says Tanahashi vs Nagata, it is actually the match from April 13th not October 8th, so when your voting keep that in mind!

Just when it looked as though Carlito might be finishing up with the WWE hes given a high profile match on one of the biggest Raw's in history. Monday night he will go up against Jeff Hardy in a ladder match. I think this match has potential to be one of the better matches on Raw this year and this match alone would get me to tune in, not to mention the return of....wait for it.....wait for it.......SUNNY!!!!!! The original diva is back along with the Hulkster, Austin, Foley, and who knows who else! The battle royal between the greatest stars of raws past should be pretty fun to watch. This Raw is shaping up to be the best one of the year, so if your a WWE fan TUNE IN!

What is going on with Ric Flair? He comes back to a huge ovation and storyline....and then.....nothing. Has a huge win over Orton and we haven't seem his since. It sounds as though the WWE is re-thinking this win till you retire scheme. With Sting's contract on the rocks with TNA, we may even see a Sting vs Flair match at mania, who would have thunk it?

hmmm what else...I haven't got a chance to watch impact yet so I will post it up with my thoughts on Smackdown on Sunday. Also I should have results to the December 9th NJPW show so I will let you know who Tanahashi's opponent is for the big January 4th NJPW vs TNA show.

Also, check out the new Chikara dvd in retail stores now! If your a fan of kid-friendly lucha libre wrestling with some good technical skills as well, its for you! Its called the Best of Chikara and features 9 amazing chikara matches! Check it out!